Reproduction and the Sciences in Cambridge

A workshop held in the Bryan Matthews Room, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, on 8 April 2011

Cambridge was perhaps the major European centre of innovation in research on reproduction in the twentieth century. The concentration in one city of University and other institutions with different missions and disciplinary affiliations appears to have been especially productive. Focusing on Cambridge also provides an opportunity to explore the engagements of the sciences with reproduction across an unusually broad range, from animal breeding and eugenics through embryology and genetics to psychoanalysis, without prejudging the changing identity of what might be considered 'reproductive sciences'.

This informal workshop aims to explore what historical research is already underway and to identify important questions and gaps. Each speaker will give a 15-minute presentation with 15 minutes for discussion.

Organizers: Martin Johnson, Nick Hopwood, John Forrester Funding: Wellcome Trust strategic award in the history of medicine on Generation to Reproduction

Programme

9:00

Registration and coffee

9:30

Welcome and introductions

First session (chaired by Simon Szreter, History)

9:45

Jim Moore (The Open University) The eugenic Darwins

10:15

Elizabeth Hurren (Oxford Brookes University) Stillbirths and miscarriages: Dissection of anatomical abnormalities and deformities in the early 20th century